For those who didn't make it down to the San Juans...you really missed out! We had a good week and a half there split between different people, trails and hikes. We all camped at Golden Horn dispersed camping area...with a nice place in the far corner near the river. Matt and family stayed a bit further up the road, but we managed to have some great river playing and camp fires with the kids.
Those who went: Me, my friend Chris and his dad Richard, Doug and his wife Sheryl, Doug's brother David and friend Wayne and Matt with his wife Kelly and kids.
Chris, his dad and I left on Friday morning and arrived at Golden Horn by late afternoon. We set up camp along South Mineral Creek and enjoyed dinner in town at Ramero's Mexican...a local favorite owned by the same family since 1969.
On Saturday, the three of us drove up South Mineral Creek to the Bandora Mine and took the trail up to Lake Hope. It was a great hike up through a pretty basin filled with wildflowers. The final trip up the bowl in the back of the basin had quite a bit of snow left from this winter. The view from the pass was great down over Lake Hope. We made our way back to the campground after the hike and waited for Doug and his wife to arrive. They set up camp and we visited and set plans for the next day.
Sunday was supposed to a trip up Arrastra Gulch with a hike up to Silver Lake. We found out as we headed up the road that Arrastra Gulch has been barricaded and marked private property. Rather than upsetting somebody, we took off for another trail. Come to find out, somebody has illegally barricaded the road and that the county actually owns the road. We could have actually made it up. So instead, we headed up to Animas Forks ghost town to walk around and take pictures. From there, we decided to drive up Minnie Gulch. It was an easy trail up into a pretty basin. We took off hiking up the basin towards the top where it meets up with the CO trail. On the way down, we stopped at several mine ruins and a cool waterfall.
Monday was a fun day. We headed out early to drive over Cinnamon Pass and hike up Handies Peak, a 14ner. My friend Chris decided he would try driving over Cinnamon in his Jeep Liberty. Its plenty capable, but ground clearance lacks a bit. It was also his first attempt at a trail on his own. He did well, had to pick lines and had a death grip on the steering wheel. The trail is rocky and has a couple of tricky switchbacks on the Lake City side. I managed to slide down one and get one of the back tires about 5 feet off the ground. No pictures of that though. We drove up American Basin to the Handies trailhead and Doug, Sheryl and I took off for the top. The wildflowers (its typically the best around) were decent but not like years past. Doug made it up to Sloan Lake before heading back down. Sheryl and I made our way to the top...all 14013 feet. The views were amazing! We made our way back down to the car and headed back to camp. Chris and his dad continued down the trail to Lake City and decided to take the pavement back, while Doug and I took Cinnamon back to Silverton. Our other fun for the day was rescuing a VW bus. It had tried to back down a switchback and failed. I'm not sure how he got up there in the first place...our why he thought he could do a 4WD recommended trail!
Doug decided they wanted to head down to the hot springs in Ouray and do some fishing. Chris and his dad needed a break from hiking and wanted to check out Durango. I spent Tuesday hiking up to the Ice Lakes Basin. I had a great hike, full of wildflowers, pretty lakes and just a good hike. Everybody else had a great day as well.
Wednesday ended up being a down day as well. Chris, his dad and I took off for Durango to take the train. It wasn't the easiest trip logistically, but we managed. The train ride was awesome and took all day! If you haven't ever down the trip, I highly recommend it! Great views, smell of history and being mooned by drunk college kids! Military personnel can get a 20% for each person in their party.
Chris and his dad took off for Oklahoma on Thursday since he had to get back to work. Doug, Sheryl and I decided it would be a great wheeling day. We decided a trip over Ophir to Imogene Pass was in store. Ophir was a pretty easy trail. There is a decently long shelf road as you head down into the Telluride side. Other than that, no problem! We found a place to park and eat in Telluride for lunch. Imogene is a much tougher trail and pretty long. There are several mine sites along the way with lots of history. Up towards the top, the rain and lightning let loose. The trail may not have been as difficult without the rain. Some of the slick rock up top was indeed slick. There were a couple walls of snow up top...and the pass peaks out over 13,100 feet. The trip down was steep, but not too bad. After several hours we made it back to the highway, headed back toward Silverton and decided to eat at the Brown Bear Cafe on account of the pouring rain.
Doug and Sheryl headed home on Friday, while Matt and family made it south to Silverton. I decided I'd head up Porphry Basin in search of wildflowers. Its another nice basin with a VERY narrow shelf road. There are several waterfalls and mines up the road. At the end, there is a trail up to Bullion King Lake, a nice basin and a mine. I saddled into the next basin and finally found a better area for wildflowers. The sky started to build so I decided it was time to head back to the car. I made it to about a quarter of a mile away and the sky opened up. Lightning was popping all around. I ended up having to ditch my gear and all things metal and take cover under a rock along the side of the trail. That lightning was close! Once the storms passed, I got to the car and dried out. I decided since it was still early, I'd check out a few more trails. I've always wanted to drive up the east side of highway 550 where Red Mountain town was. There are tons of mines up there and the trail was a lot of fun. I'll recommend this the next time we go down! Matt arrived that evening and we made plans.
Matt said his favorite trail to run down there was California to Corkscrew Gulch. We took off Saturday morning for Animas Forks to catch the trail. We spent time wondering the ghost town and taking more pictures. Then we headed up California Gulch. It was a mild trail with a couple of steep switchbacks at the back of the basin. It was a nice, scenic drive! At the pass, there was a great view of Lake Como. We headed down, had a hot dog lunch and helped a couple of unsure bikers. Corkscrew Gulch was a lot of fun to come down. There were several steep grades and one more difficult switchback. The views of Red Mountain were amazing. I can see why he really loves that trail...and its now towards the top of my list! That night Matt and his family stopped by camp and we enjoyed smores around the fire!
Sunday was my final day down in the San Juans. Matt and family headed for home. I headed for the hiking trails. I took off for Cunningham Gulch to hike the Highland Mary Lakes and Verde Lakes trail. Its a pretty trail, lots of wildflowers and fish filled lakes. My trip to the Verde Lakes was well worth it. The wildflowers were insane...the ground was a blanket of color...the only place I saw wildflowers in crazy amounts. Well worth the trip. I headed back to camp and closed up shop...headed home on Monday morning and I'm already planning for next year.
